Port of Alaska reopens after earthquake

Alaska Railroad remains shut down, but neither TOTE Maritime Alaska nor Matson reports injuries or damage.

   While the Port of Alaska in Anchorage was shut down Friday following a 7.0 earthquake just north of the city, no major damage at the port has been reported and operations have resumed.
   However, damage to the Alaska Railroad has shut down train service between Anchorage and Fairbanks.
   The Anchorage Daily News said Alaska Railroad spokesman Tim Sullian told it in a statement that “since we are not done with inspection of all of our track and bridges, we
do not have a good estimate of when we will be up and running between
Anchorage and Fairbanks.”
   Sullivan told the newspaper that the railroad had identified at least three areas north of Anchorage damaged by ground shifting, cracking or sloughing, including a spot near Nancy Lakes where “crews reported cracks two and four feet wide and between 100 and 150 feet long on each side of the tracks.”
   Neither TOTE Maritime Alaska nor Matson had ships in port on Friday.
   On Sunday, TOTE said it was “conducting normal operations after
receiving the all clear following the earthquake.” It said most of the
major roads were cleared on Saturday, “making it possible to get into
key communities. The one challenge is that the Alaska Railroad is
closed, but we have identified trucking partners who are able to
move cargo over the road while the railroad is being repaired.”
   Matson said its Anchorage terminal was open Sunday with special hours to pick up cargo and would have special gate hours Monday and Tuesday extending into the evening. It planned to resume regular hours on Wednesday.
    Jim Jaeger, a spokesman for the port, said Port of Alaska had “no known injuries or significant infrastructure damage” resulting from Friday’s earthquake.
   “A tanker was offloading jet fuel when the earthquake struck. It secured operations and no product was spilled.” He said a pressure test of the port’s fuel lines would be conducted before fuel operations resume. Port of Alaska has 3.4 million barrels of fuel storage.
   He said, “Engineers plan to fully inspect the docks and cranes before general cargo operations resume.”
  The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration had issued a tsunami warning after the event, but it was later canceled. Jaeger said, “We have no tsunami danger up here in the upper Cook Inlet. We are basically tsunami-proof.”